


In The Best Families

by LyraNgalia



Series: The Montenegrin Affair [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-02
Updated: 2012-12-02
Packaged: 2017-11-20 01:43:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/579927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyraNgalia/pseuds/LyraNgalia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were many things Archie Goodwin knew of his friend Nero Wolfe, but the story of his parentage remained a mystery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Best Families

There were many things Archie Goodwin had learned from Nero Wolfe in the years of their friendship: his love of opera, his passion for the orchids that filled his hydroponic conservatory, his insistence on not only the careful preparation of his food but that said food continue to be grown and harvested rather than replicated in laboratories as was standard.

There were other things, too, that Archie learned about the detective, things that he learned about from observation and simply being around the familiar brownstone: the one way glass on the front door, a mind-bogglingly antique method of surveillance that still managed to work exactly as Wolfe intended; Wolfe’s voracious interest in word puzzles, judging by the scattered ones Archie finds.

But there were things Archie never understood, like his friend’s insistence on formality, or his cleanliness. But none of those intrigued Archie as much as the display box that sat on a shelf above Nero Wolfe’s desk.

It was an old fashioned box, glass panes edged in wood and gild in a way that reminded Archie of a painting or an antique picture frame. But the items within the box were more ordinary than any painting or reproduction. Inside rested, pristine and untouched, two items: a worn tweed deerstalker, its edges frayed and suspiciously stained, as if water-damaged in very precise spots; and an antique mobile phone, its edges showing the soft wear of being rubbed against cloth despite the dull glow of pristine gold accents and the wink of diamonds on the keys.

He tried to ask once, about the odd collection, but Wolfe had simply ignored him, beginning instead on a long explanation of precisely why the perfect scrambled eggs required 45 minutes of cooking time.

So the box, with its antique oddities, remained a mystery.


End file.
